Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Void of Darkness
by Marozard
Summary: After Palkia attacks Darkrai when he tries to escape through time, he's left with no memory of who he is or what happened. Months later, he finds himself recruited to the same Rescue Team who defeated him, but who are they and why do they hate him?
1. Pyras's Discovery

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon Mystery Dungeon or any of the chars in it. How ever, the personalities and names I've given to the pokemon are my own.

After Palkia attacks Darkrai when he tries to escape through time, he's left with no memory of who he is or what happened. Months later, he finds himself recruited to the very same Rescue Team who took part in defeating him. But unfortunately, he doesn't know who they are or why everyone around him seems to hate him. Through his journey of self-discovery, can he find out who he is, especially when someone in particular is trying to make sure not only that he stays amnesiac, but to make sure that he's gone forever?

A/N: Usually, I don't like doing things that revolve around legendaries but I couldn't pass up something like this. Why I don't like legendaries? I don't know, probably because when I was a kid, whenever someone caught the legendaries on the games, they would use them in battles to pwn everybody and I've been annoyed of them ever since. I now only catch legendaries to complete my pokedex but I don't like battling with them or doing anything that revolves around them, but this story was just staring me in the face and I just had to write it. So I hope you enjoy, Void of Darkness.

PS: Editing this, Opal, Berlitz, and Stupidity due to new fanfiction settings.

_"Thoughtspeech"

* * *

_

Ch. 1: Pyras's Discovery

"So here we are again huh Scamper?" The large orange dragon said with a smirk. His flaming tail swaying casually on the ground behind him. He slung the explorer pack higher on his shoulder where it wouldn't fall off. Behind the tail a large penguin with a trident for a beak grunted.

"Pyras, I told you to never call me that stupid nickname. I still hate you for giving it to me, especially after you told me where you got it from." Pyras laughed.

"What? You don't like being named after the human movie _Scamper the Happy Piplup_?"

"Now's not the time to discuss this."

And the empoleon spoke the truth. In Mystifying Forest, they found themselves surrounded by another group of pokemon which called themselves Monster Houses. Pokemon in the area didn't usually bother travelers until you trespassed in their territory or threatened their nest or food supply. In which case, the pokemon would band together to keep their homes safe. Two aipoms hung from a tree in front of Scamper, one hanging from a limb by its tail and the other perched on all fours on top. Two scythers were poised nearby, one standing next to the other, obviously mates due to the one on the right having a larger abdomen. And to their side was an angry torterra, her brow furrowed in anger.

"Mama, is it safe to come out yet?" That was when Pyras noticed a small green head poking out of the bushes. The torterra's expression softened as she turned to look at the head.

"Not yet Little Sprout, we have to deal with this little annoyance first." The head nodded as if it understood and went back.

"Scamp, there's a child in the bushes, we're going to have to rearrange our plans." Before he could get in another word, the male scyther overheard him.

"They're planning an attack, we have to strike now!" He called out as he sprang forward blades gleaming in the moonlight aiming for Pyras's left while his mate went to the right. The aipoms giggled as the top lept from the branch, the bottom one grabbing on to it's tail and flinging it in Scamper's direction, its claws bared. The torterra simply stood where it was and stomped its foot hard on the ground, sending a seismic vibration in the earth that shook everything in the area. Pyras flapped his wings hard, once he was airborne he latched his front claws into Scamper's shoulders.

"No time to change plans, Maneuver Firefighter!" Scamper called up to Pyras as he lifted his partner into the air. He opened his mouth, his eyes glowing red, as he fired a blazing inferno at the grassy terrain, setting the area ablaze. He heard the turtwig's cries nearby, in fear of the strange flaming interloper. The scythers finding that they missed their mark let out their wings. Whirring in the air, they flew towards the two airborne pokemon.

"Go!" Pyras called out as he flung the empoleon towards the inferno he had caused. The penguin put his fins tightly to his side, the water stored in his body emerging and enveloping him. He put himself at an angle so rather than using Aqua Jet directly into the ground, he went a little to the left of where he had previously stood. As his body flew directly into the forest fire, the water counteracted against the fire, keeping him safe from the hot embers but it wouldn't last for long. As he shot out of the fire, he dismissed the Aqua Jet by extending his fins and spun at a furious rate with his beak out as he felt himself come in contact with a soft body.

"Gah!" cried the Aipom as the Drill Peck hit its mark. It went flying into the nearby tree and passed out. Its companion, with a frown on its face, poked at it trying to wake it up. When it found this was all in vain it called out,

"Ooh ooh! Friend hurt, friend hurt!"

The female scyther that was heading for Pyras looked to the ground with worry written on her face.

"Go," her mate told her."I can handle this." He hovered for a moment, to look at her, she nodded at him and flew in the aipoms' direction. She landed, bundled the injured primate up with the flat ends of her blades, and flew off with the second aipom leaping tree to tree after her. With soft eyes, the scyther watched her go, so distracted that he almost didn't notice the Ember coming in his direction. It didn't hit, but it was so large that he still felt the heat from it and winced.

"Don't interfere." Pyras said. "We mean you no harm." The bug-type snorted and motioned to the ground.

"That's 'no harm' to you?" He demanded angrily as he flew towards him with his blades crossed, the blades tinted green. As the X-Scissor landed, it did nothing more than to push the immense dragon back. Using the push to his advantage, he stalled his wings for a moment and pivoted around, his flaming tail hitting the scyther in the gut and knocking it away in the trees below. Pyras snorted.

"Local pokemon can be such a nuisance." He looked down to the ground, the torterra was outside of the blaze, looking around in worry for her child and Scamper was too busy extinguishing them with Hydro Pump. Pyras sighed and flapped his wings twice, raising himself higher into the air, his body a silhouette in the full moon. Then, folding his wings against his back, he dove into the fire as he felt them flickering against his body. He winced when he felt some of Scamper's water come in contact with his tail but kept going. He spotted the young turtwig who was cowering in fear in the bushes. Pyras picked it up as he flew over it and the turtle pokemon started to whimper.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Pyras said as he flew out of the flames and found a clearing to land in. But he doubted the turtwig heard him over the air blowing past their ears. Or if it did, he didn't think it believed them after setting the forest on fire. He set it down where it backed away from the charizard with terror in its eyes. Suddenly, a dark orb appeared from behind it and hit the young pokemon. Its eyes turned purple for a moment as they widened in shock, as the orb enveloped him, it went inside its chest and the pokemon fell to the ground unconcious. Pyras blinked.

"Why is that familiar to me?" And as he spoke, a dark figure floated in from the trees, white trailing from the back of its head and red spikes surrounded its neck. As it approached, it appeared to draw a shadow outside of the Turtwig into itself. The grass pokemon shivered and shifted in its spot on the ground as though it was in pain or as thought it was having, "A nightmare." Pyras mumbled. "Darkrai!" He growled at the pokemon. But the ghost pokemon barely even noticed the aura being drawn from the small pokemon as though it was unintentional.

_"Darkrai?_ A low deep voice with an inquisitive look in its eyes. _Who is this, 'Darkrai' of which you speak?"_

Pyras growled for a moment, preparing to attack. He always hated how thought-speech rang in his head, it was impossible to ignore it, but before he did anything, his expression changed from anger to confusion.

"You mean you don't know?' He asked, suddenly recalling Palkia's words monthes ago.

_"I know not of Darkrai, I know of Void. Relax, I mean the child no harm, he shall awake eventually, I only wished to keep him from the emotion known as fear."_

He did seem different now that Pyras had the chance to look at him. His eyes were soft and blank. Not the twisted evil look he had seen during their last encounter.

"Why do you call yourself Void?"

_"It is not a name I have given myself, but rather, a name the pokemon of the forest have given me. Allow me to demonstrate why." _

As he said this, his eyes drifted a little to the left of Pyras and the dragon turned around.

A worried torterra greeted his eyes as she lumbered in the turtwig's direction.

"Little Sprout?" she called out to the sleeping form. Darkrai extended his right hand, aiming it at the Torterra.

_"Dark Void!_" he called out as a small black orb started to grow in his palm, similar to the one before. As Pyras watched, the aura that was being drawn from the turtwig soon shifted in direction to lend power to the attack. It grew larger and larger until it was larger than torterra. It fired from the phantom's palm and struck it in the back. The torterra looked up in surprise, her eyes purple.

"Wha-?" she said, as the orb enveloped her whole body, tree and all. She fell to the ground with a heavy thud, legs sprawled out next to her child.

Soon an aura started to draw from her as well in the nightmare pokemon's direction.

"Stop!" Pyras called to Void, "Can't you see they're in pain?"

Void shook his head.

_"This, I can not help. It is an ability I've had for as long as I can remember, to cause pokemon painful night visions as they sleep."_

And even as Pyras watched, he could tell this was true. A transparent turtwig floated from Little Sprout's body. The transparent pokemon looked around in fear, dark fog surrounding him and only him.

"Mama?" he called out helplessly as the spirit began to float around the clearing. "Mama, where are you?"

Pyras recognized this as well, he was witnessing the pokemon's nightmare, just as he had months ago.

* * *

_"__Do you enjoy experiencing your companion's nightmare?" _Darkrai asked with an icy tone. He was clearly enjoying the piplup's pain.

"Scamp!" Pyras called out as he ran towards the fallen penguin's side. His spirit rose from his body, floating over the area watching something that the charmander couldn't see.

"Pyras," The floating Scamper was saying. "Pyras, please don't go." He said with tears falling from his eyes as he watched an unseen spot. Py realized that he was experiencing the moment when he was going to disappear. All future pokemon were meant to disappear. Dusknoir, Grovyle, and even himself. He turned to Cresselia who had fallen in pain to the ground someways behind him. She was out of it, there was nothing he could do but fight Darkrai and hope that he would awaken once he was defeated. As he turned to face the phantom, a loud, dark chuckle filled his head.

_"Excuse me." _Pyras almost didn't register the voice as he shook his head and looked to the Darkrai who was floating closer.

"_I noticed that look in your eye when you looked at me. Have, have we met before?"_

Pyras looked away for a moment to avoid eye contact.

"No, no we've never met before."

Disappointment was apparent in Void's eyes.

_"I see. Well if it's all the same, do you mind if I joined you? I... I don't know why, but I feel as though if I go with you, I can learn more about myself."_

"Well," the dragon started hesitantly. He honestly didn't know what to say, he was sure that Void would be valuable to the team with his ability to put multiple pokemon to sleep, but what would the others say?

"Pyras!" a voice called out that he recognized as Scamper's. Knowing how rash the empoleon could be, he put a claw on the darkrai, something they had to do with new recruits, reached in his bag with his free claw, pulled out a small bead, and held it up in the air. The bead grew and they were both enveloped in a bright light as well as the penguin, and disappeared from the forest.


	2. How The Guildmasters Came To Be

A/N: I'm going to bring back the Friend Area thing from the first game, don't know why they got rid of it in the first place, it made the game more interactive in my opinion. Plus, it's sort of boring to only see the two main pokemon go through the towns. However, I don't like how there was limited room in the areas. I personally wanted a trio of Typhlosions along with his other preevolutions.

P.S. All the Friend Areas are connected somehow, however some are secluded in the story.

* * *

Ch. 2: How The Guildmasters Came To Be

"Pyras what was that?"

They were both at the entrance of Sharpedo Cove. The large natural rock formation facing out to see, a Wingull taking a rest on one of the jagged teeth. Scamper was giving Pyras an icy stare, trying to figure out what had happened, they hadn't even finished what they were trying to do and he made them leave without warning. Pyras was interested however at his feet at the moment, staring intently at his claws.

"Tyler,"

"Uh-Oh," he thought. "My human name, not a good sign."

Scamper only used his human name when he really meant business. And ever since the two evolved and became leaders of their own guild, he'd become a very straight-to-the-point type of pokemon. Pyras looked up at the empoleon, smiling sheepishly though still trying to avoid eye contact.

"What did you do?"

The charizard shrugged, swinging his tail nervously back and forth. He cleared his throat before finally answering,

"What are you talking about Scamp? I didn't do anything. You're working way too hard, starting to get paranoid, y'know. I think it's time for the guild meeting, see ya!"

He turned around, heading for the entrance of the tunnels.

"Hold it Tyler."

The words causing the charizard to stop in his tracks. Scamper waddled up to him and looked him in the eye with a steely glance for a moment before he nodded.

"You're right, it is time for the guild meeting."

Pyras gave a heavy sigh as he started for the stairs, but before he could even take one step, Scamper added,

"And I think we should call _all _of the recruits."

For the third time that day, the mighty dragon froze in place, horror in his eyes. With a gulp, just to verify, he asked,

"A-All of them Scamper? Do you really think that's necessary?"

"Naturally Pyras, we were going to have a meeting anyway, why not call everyone?"

"B-B-But-"

Before he could get another word out, the penguin started down the stairs and with a heavy sigh, Pyras followed suit.

* * *

After the team had graduated, they had performed many feats until the Wigglytuff Guild had recognized them talented enough to leave the guild and start their own. They now stood in their old Guild waiting for the speech Wigglytuff had planned to give them. With a sigh the charmeleon wiped his brow as he stood in front of Chatot and Wigglytuff next to his prinplup partner, and as always, Wigglytuff was as ecstatic as always.

"Yay! Friendly friends! Congratulations on your new guild! Welp, there seems to be no more room for us around here, time to move to another location! Right Chatot?"

"Well, I guess your right Wigglytuff, these two have done quite a lot since they graduated and deserve to be rewarded. Furthermore-"

Chatot suddenly stopped talking and stared at the Guildmaster, sweat rolling down the back of his neck, embarrassed for him. Wigglytuff was known far and wide for his extremely short attention span but this took the cake. Wigglytuff had stopped listening almost as soon as Chatot started talking and had proceeded with bouncing and balancing a Perfect Apple between his ears. Singing quietly to himself.

_"Yoom-tah, yoom-tah, yoom-tah-tah! _

_Perfect Apples are my favorite treat, _

_the very best apples and so good to eat!_

_I eat five, six, seven, eight, nine!_

_My favorite treat and it's all mine!_

_Then when my apples run out for sure,_

_My Friendly Friends go out and fetch some more!"_

Chatot felt a cold awkward sweat running down his back while Pyras and Scamper just stared. Looking for an excuse, Chatot cleared his throat and applauded loudly.

"Brilliant Guildmaster, Brilliant! An excellent demonstration on what not to do when you're a guildmaster! Now I believe you had something to give to these two?"

But of course, Wigglytuff was in his own little world, humming his little song and bouncing the apple. Chatot nudged him with a wing which caused the round pink pokemon to lose balance and drop the apple he was playing with. It promptly bounced off and rolled out of the room. Wigglytuff gave a shriek of surprise before running after it.

"Come back! My friends aren't ready to get another one of you yet!"

As he ran off with his arms outstretched, he dropped something. The two soon-to-be-guildmasters just stared at him, while Chatot, who was used to his partner's antics, hopped over to the dropped item and picked it up. He hopped back over to the two pokemon and offered it to them with an outstretched wing. Pyras blinked for a second before realizing something was being held in front of this face. It was a faded pink ribbon but when Pyras grabbed it, it turned red. He tilted his head to the side, ignorant to what it was. Scamper let out a gasp.

"Is this Wigglytuff's-"

Chatot nodded,

"Yes, this is Wigglytuff's Aura Ribbon. It responds to the user's aura and will do most whatever your aura's capable of doing. You may remember the explosions that went off whenever the Guildmaster got angry or upset?"

Scamper shuddered, remembering Wigglytuff's many outbursts such as when the pair failed to get a Perfect Apple due to Skuntank and his gang, the time when they were very unenthusiastic about Skuntank's recruitment into the guild, and of course, who could forget the time Bidoof, now a bibarel, had knocked over his Chocolate MooMoo Milk. Pyras sniffed at the ribbon before asking,

"So? I still don't get what's so special about this old thing."

Chatot shook his head muttering to himself before grabbing the item for himself.

"Allow me to demonstrate."

The ribbon turned a light blue in response to Chatot's aura and he held it up, focusing on his energy and sending it into the ribbon. Aura shot out and enveloped the Charmeleon, levitating him into the air. This finally caught Pyras's attention as he struggled against his bonds while Scamper watched him with an amused smirk on his face.

"Hey! What is this?" He demanded. Chatot ignored him and continued his explanation.

"As I said before, the ribbon responds to the user's aura and does whatever your aura is capable of doing. I, for example, am capable of flight so my aura allows others to experience it as well. But the ribbon itself can not be used to do any intentional harm unless the ribbon is corrupted, and this can only happen if the user is pure evil."

In mid-explanation, the Charmeleon had stopped listening and had started slanting his body at different angles so as to allow flight.

"This is sort of cool!" he called out as he started flying towards the ceiling. Chatot shook his head and tutted to himself before letting his aura return to his body. The blue that once enveloped Pyras disappeared and left him in mid-air with no assistance. Pyras flapped his arms in vain before hitting the ground with a hard thud. He shook his head and stood up grumbling.

"Did you get any of that?" Chatot asked raising a brow. Scamper nodded while the Charmeleon just tapped his claw with irritation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what does flying have to do with any of us?" he growled under his breath. "It's not like either of us can fly."

The bird sighed and tried to explain yet again.

"Yes, I realize neither of you can fly," he said. "But if you were listening, then you'd realize that by using this ribbon, you can start fires by simply thinking it."

"Well what would I need to do that for if I can just do this?" he asked while snorting an ember out of his snout, just barely missing Chatot's tail feathers who huffed in anger.

"Insubordination! You need to know this! Do you know how this guild even got started?" Chatot asked, motioning a wing towards all the caverns and caves. Pyras just picked something out of his snout and flicked it away, the Prinplup grimacing at the immature act.

"I don't know, you got Diglett and Dugtrio to dig it out?" He guessed with a shrug before he felt a wing strike him across the face.

"Hmmph! Of course not! It would take years to be able to dig all of this! Guildmaster simply gave it to Dugtrio, who sent his ground-type aura into the earth which hollowed out the tunnels and caverns in the design Wigglytuff wanted. Do you understand now?"

Pyras opened his mouth to say what was obviously going to be a rude remark but Scamper covered his mouth with a flipper and shouted.

"Yes sir! Ignore Pyras, he's just having one of his 'special' days."

Chatot raised a non-existent brow but decided to let it slide and cleared his throat.

"Alright, well. Just be sure not to use it for too long or you'll wear yourself out. Now I'll be off now. Good luck with the guild. You no longer owe any of your rewards to the guild, but it'd be nice to receive a gift now and again!" he said with a wink, and as he flew to the entrance, a well-aimed fireball came flying towards the back of his head.


	3. The Guild Meeting

Ch.3: The Guild Meeting

Scamper waddled down the stairs while Pyras stepped nervously behind him. If he really did call a guild meeting then the secret was out and it was no secret that no one hated the creator of nightmares more than Scamper. He reached the bottom, a huge cavern with a ceiling so high, one had to squint to see it. The two guild masters reached the meeting hall, the very same room in which they once reported to everyday when the place was Wigglytuff's Guild. When the old guild left to explore new lands, they made several new tunnels with one branching from Sharpedo Cove to the old guild. Dugtrio did this as a favor to them before they left.

Scamper nodded to Pyras who groaned and put a claw to the ribbon tied around his tail, focusing hard. A high pitched whine emitted as the ribbon started to glow a fiery crimson and his aura was sent into the ground following the many tunnels until it disappeared into the distance. After waiting a couple of seconds, a vast sleek form scrambled in. He had a slim form and two flames shot out from his back and the top of his head, slightly resembling a mohawk. The quick quilava slipped in and sat in front of the two. But even though he was sitting, there was no stopping his fidgeting. First he'd shift one paw, then the other, then lift it a front paw to lick it, then he'd stand up and pace from left to right.

Scamper's eyebrow twitched, it was obvious just watching the restless pokemon irritated him to no end so he finally spoke up.

"Spike, where's your teammate?" he asked with an edge in his voice to which the pokemon responded as quickly as he could, repeating his constant movements.

"Oh him?" he asked, swiping a paw over the top of his head, feeling his flames. "He was going too slow so I just went ahead. I swear, why you paired me with a Slowpoke is beyond me."

He snorted before he started to spin in circles. Pyras snickered at the energetic little pokemon while Scamp shook his head warily. It wasn't long before two figures appeared in a distant tunnel, swinging from stalactite to stalactite. Surprisingly, one pokemon didn't even use its arms but rather its two tails.

Each one sported a giant hand, tipped with red on the fingers. These hands grabbed one stalactite and flung the pokemon through the air, somersaulting before catching another with its other tail. Right next to it was a pokemon that was a huge mess of tangled vines. It followed the ape with the two tails and stretched out the tangled mass that formed one arm to catch a stalactite before they approached the room where the tangrowth let go and landed with a thud next to the quilava, or at least that's what it intended before the fiery pokemon, with its flames still out, decided to move at the last second, right under the tangrowth. The heavy pokemon squashed the volcano pokemon before leaping in the air, smoke trailing from its bum and landed painfully on the floor.

His partner the ambipom sniggered, still hanging from the stalactites with one tail. Lowering herself upside down in front of the empoleon she saluted with a wide grin on her face.

"Team Jungle Swingers reporting for duty! Ooh ooh!" She chattered before she yanked herself up hard with the tail she was hanging on with, flying into the air before doing a double backflip, twisting around into a barrel roll, landing on all fours in a show of wild acrobatics.

Tangrowth clumsily recovered from the unexpected landing and sat up with a salute, the pokemon underneath the vines slightly blushing. In a gruff voice he added,

"Oh, uh... Barrel might not make it."

Scamp gave him a steely glance, "And why not?"

"The usual."

Scamper nodded, it was common for Slakings to sleep through most anything. He knew since there was no stopping instinct and that his team would brief him when they returned from the meeting, it would go excused. There was a series of loud thumps and a look of dread was evident on the pokemons' faces, but relief filled them all when the sound was none other than the large silent pokemon they'd all grown to love. His round cream-colored belly showing up before the rest of him. An owl-like pokemon appeared behind her, her weightless wings making no sound as she flew past her large partner. The small pokemon on her back squealed with joy.

Its whole body looked as though it had hatched from an egg but never entirely got out of the shell. The shell was patterned with red and blue triangles and its small hands instinctively grabbed onto the noctowl's feathers. When she entered the hall, she hovered in the air for a moment until the snorlax caught up and came into the room and dropped with a thud onto its back, causing everyone on the ground to hop a few inches in the air. The noctowl nodded and spun, causing the small pokemon to fall onto the snorlax's stomach. Bouncing a little, much to the togepi's amusement.

"Team Togepi's present and accounted for." Scamper recited.

At the mention of its name the baby pokemon cooed and bounced on the rubbery stomach. Pyras was starting to sweat, with every arrival of another team, there were three more teams and a slowpoke before the meeting would start, and as it was with every meeting, they would begin with new recruits. A thumping sounded under the ground next to where the Snorlax lay. A long shiny white claw poked through, the tip gleaming in the light before the head poked through, looking around before diving back into the ground. Soon after, a sphere with red and white coloring was pushed through, followed by another one but rather than the eyes being located on the red half, they were located on the white. After they were pushed through, a small timid looking pokemon appeared. His skin was covered with small cracks and patterns as though it was made of dried earth. When the Sandshrew appeared, his head slightly bowed, the Electrode sat next to his preevolution and his voice boomed out,

"Team Landmine Tenhut!" At the loud voice, the Sandshrew winced, looking as though it was about to cover his head with his claws, but then fell in next to the voltorb who was fully attentive to his team leader. Scamper however was unfazed.

"Yes, thank you for that Major. About face." he said, rather dully as if this was nothing more than a joke. He looked at the other two. "And Lieutenant, Private, you may stand down."

At the command from their superior, they relaxed and Private the Sandshrew went back into his hole where only his head was poking out so he could see. Major scowled a little, he was clearly not used to taking orders but he grudgingly turned around and waited for the two guild masters. Private came out of his hole and tapped Snorlax on his side. He turned his head to the side to look at the Sandshrew, careful not to tilt his rubbery belly and cause the baby pokemon to fall.

"Who are we waiting on this time?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Snorlax chuckled and pointed at the fidgeting Quilava, he'd passed Barrel on the way to the meeting and he knew he wasn't coming. Private nodded and burrowed back into his hole. Suddenly, the lights started to flicker, a brownout and though Pyras couldn't help but grin, Scamper still had a face of stone. To most it was difficult to figure out what he was thinking, but being partners for so long, Py could tell he was trying to figure out what the charizard was trying to hide. The lights finally flickered, then went out, the only thing that kept the room lit was the flame on Py's tail and the fiery spikes on Spike's back. The baby Togepi started to whimper and Private burrowed completely into his hole. Other than this, there was no initial reaction. It was obvious this was expected.

A ghastly laughter filled the room, sounding as though it was coming from all over in the very walls themselves. Two dark figures floated from opposite walls before a corridor leading to the more secluded friend areas. From the tunnel, a large quadroped appeared, nine tails waving behind the confident pokemon. Her red eyes shined in the darkness as her two partners floated to her sides to meet her. One, a tall figure that looked as though it wore a witche's hat and cloak. A red gem shone on her chest. The other was a small pokemon compared to the other two, a large horn protruded from its forehead and its body looked like a dark puppet.

The Ninetails spoke as she passed Pyras to join the crowd, one tail intently caressing the Charizard under the chin, a reaction that made him grimace yet blush at the same time. In a soft suave voice, she spoke.

"Team Velvet." She stated simply before she used a hind leg to push Spike out of the way, taking her place in the front row and sitting on her haunches. Shuppet floated behind her and spotted Togepi, grinning at it with a devious look until it noticed a certain noctowl staring daggers at him. Mismagius drifted over the Sandshrew who poked his head up to make sure she had gone when she'd passed. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and he swiveled around to find himself face-to-face with her.

"Boo."

He leaped out of the hole for a moment before diving back in, digging furiously into the ground. Scamper stared at Velvet's team, frowning at the trio before he cleared his throat.

"Yes, Velvet, always a pleasure." He said, his tone clearly stating otherwise. "Well, I believe we have been waiting long enough. Pyras, if you'd please."

Pyras nodded, thumping his tail on the ground, his Aura Ribbon sending a wave of red aura into the ground which ran towards the ground and into the ceiling, turning the lights back on. Scamper nodded, and cleared his throat once more, the meeting would now officially begin.

"Now, as always, we'll start with-"

"Team Legend!"

A blue hand gripped Pyras's claws and forced him to spin around to dance with the joyful Manaphy. Her long antennae flowed behind her, the tips glowing red from happiness. He laughed heartily before she moved on to Scamper, spinning him around as well, and for the first time that day, Scamper couldn't help but smile. She released the penguin then floated behind the two where he Pyras noticed two other pokemon were there with her.

"Ah, Time and Space, glad you could make it."

Two immense pokemon towered over all the rest, one stood on two legs and had a pink gem implanted in both shoulders. The other stood on four legs with a large blue gem located in its chest. Behind them, a large rip, or that was the best way to describe it, was in the air. On the inside was a seafloor which was where they'd obviously just came from to pick up Manaphy. Py instinctively shielded his tail behind a wing, even though the water was prevented from rushing into the room by a space/time barrier, it still made him nervous. The feeling was obviously mutual with Spike and Velvet who both shifted uncomfortably where they lay. Space, the palkia, leaned over and let down a dopey looking pink pokemon who tried its best to give Spike an angry look but only succeeded in looking a little more dopey than usual.

"Spiiiiike...you, did it again..." He said slowly before the quilava ran over and sat up on its hind legs, giving the slowpoke a hard slap on the back, looking as though he was about to say something but hesistated. No one said something for five seconds until the Slowpoke spoke again.

"Owwww...thaaaat, huuuuurt..." he groaned.

"Relax Pokey, I won't do it again." he said with a grin before running around in circles. This name was new to Manaphy who raised a brow at Spike.

"Why is his name Pokey?"

Spike grinned, "Watch this."

He rushed around in various places poking the slowpoke all over his body before sitting down on his haunches again. After another five seconds, the slowpoke started to twitch in all the places the quilava had touched, the result making him look as though he was having a seizure. Spike held a paw in front of his face, stifling laughter and Manaphy mimicked the movement. Pyras actually burst out laughing while Scamper gave a little smirk before waving his flippers at the trio.

"Alright, alright, take your places you three." Manaphy floated into the crowd as well as Spike while the slowpoke slowly made his way after them, they all knew from experience it'd probably be a while before Pokey actually made it to them so Scamper spoke again,

"Continuing from where I left off," he began, "Our first order of business is to bring in any new recruits. Have any of you recruited any new pokemon?"

After he asked this, he snuck a glance towards Pyras who was suddenly interested in his talons, but to both of their surprise no one spoke up immediately before Ambipom leaped up shouting,

"Ooh! Ooh! We saw someone! We saw someone! On the way here didn't we Tangrowth?"

He nodded instinctively.

"Uh... Yeah, in the uh... Meadow."

Scamper grinned and looked at Pyras who was sweating buckets he turned to Space who already knew what to do. His gems glowing, he used a claw to rip another hole in the space/time continuum. Scamper's eyes suddenly widened while Pyras turned away to avoid the inevitable.


	4. A Dream Comes True, The Nightmares Begin

Ch. 4: As A Dream Comes True, The Nightmares Begin

The room was absolutely quiet except for the cooing of the togepi bouncing on Snorlax's stomach. Every single pokemon looked at the inhabitants of Space's portal, some looked confused as if unable to comprehend exactly why their guild masters were so surprised. Finally, the silence was broken by Spike's scoff. He scurried in front of the portal on all fours and sat up on his hind legs.

"What's the big deal? I can take him!"

He quickly did a series of quick jabs and punches to show off his speed but Scamper chose to ignore the younger pokemon and turned to the charizard.

"You brought them?" His voice was calm yet just beneath the surface it bristled with anger.

"Yeah yeah, I know, I brought him," Pyras started, taking his head out from under his wing to face the empoleon. "But Scamp, you don't understand, I just had to bring D-..." Pyras stopped and blinked.

"Did you say _them?_"

"Yes, why did you bring _them?_" Scamper pointed his flipper at the portal. The bemused charizard turned around only to find instead of the dark specter, there was instead a small alarmed turtle with a sprout on its head. It looked around wildly as though death would pop out from anywhere. The lush green grass, calm blue lake, and colorful flowers did nothing to calm it, rather, it seemed to scare it even more.

"Mama, where are we?" came the turtwig's meek voice, for accompanying it was a large tortoise which towered over the turtle. Unlike its child however, it did not look around, it didn't even seemed surprised. There was nothing but anger, rage, and aggression in her eyes. She looked out the portal and stared at all the guild members.

"Be calm Little Sprout."

Both voices drifted through the gateway, twisted and distorted as they made their way through time and space. However, Scamper kept his eyes on Charizard, his eyelids lowering as a suspicious look swept his face.

"Are you surprised Pyras? Were you expecting someone else?"

Pyras realized that he still had a dumbfounded look on his face and he quickly tried to cover up his blunder.

"W-why n-n-no Scamp! I j-just didn't expect you to find them so soon!"

He laughed and put a claw behind his head, trying to act as though he'd just been caught with a claw in the cookie jar. However, Scamp still kept his skepticism and cocked an eyebrow.

"Then answer the question."

Pyras laughed a little louder as he worked his brain to come up with an answer.

"W-well, it's just... I m-mean...Haha! Scamp! It's just the little guy's so cute! And his mother looked so powerful! I feel they have a lot of potential!"

With that, his guffaws started to fade to a chuckle before they stopped all together, thanks to the icy stare of the empoleon. After a moment of staring Pyras down, his doubtful look started to fade as the torterra trudged out of the meadow's doorway, followed reluctantly by Little Sprout.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, stomping her foot and sending a small tremor through the ground. She glanced distrustfully at all the pokemon in the room. After a moment of complete silence, even from Togepi, the most responsible pokemon stepped forward.

"I'm sorry Miss... Er... Do you have a name?" Scamper asked, his voice absolutely drizzled with courtesy. However, the torterra didn't seem to be swayed.

"Terra, after one of my ancestors." she grunted, glowering at the speaker.

"And a beautiful name Miss Terra, I apologize on behalf of the irresponsible partner Pyras. Though, despite the circumstances, I would like to welcome you to the Coronaqua Guild."

"I wanted to call it Guild Fireburst." Pyras murmured before he was nudged hard in the ribs by Scamper.

"That aside, it would seem _Pyras_ here has recruited you to our explorer guild without asking permission and we sincerely apologize."

He paused, bowing to her out of respect before continuing the oration.

"However, should you wish, you may leave the guild if you please. If you would like to stay, we do have a warm and comfortable place for you to reside."

Terra finally nodded, satisfied for the first time since she'd left the forest.

"Thank you, I'm sure we'd like to return home as soon as-"

"An explorer guild? Wow!"

Little Sprout had finally emerged from behind his mother, his eyes shining with wonder and excitement.

"I've heard about explorer guilds! You guys go on adventures, and find treasures, and do lots of awesome exploring!"

Suddenly the Turtwig ran up to Pyras, looking up at him with newfound awe and respect, though Pyras found this quite amusing coming from a creature that just moments ago, was terrified of his very existence.

"Can we join ma? Can we? Can we?" he asked, bouncing up and down as he turned to look at his mother. Terra looked at her child with worry furrowing her brow. She was so intent on going home but it seemed to Py that the torterra could be swayed just to keep her son happy.

"But, Little Sprout, what about the forest? You remember our friends? They'll miss us."

Little Sprout scowled as if he had a rotten Bluk berry in his mouth.

"You mean like the aipoms who used to throw Colbur Berries at me?" he winced as he remembered the spiky berries and the wrinkles in Terra's forehead deepened from the weight of indecision until she finally spoke again.

"Well...I guess it's ok, but only-!"

"Yay! I'm a dungeon explorer!"

He started to dance, instantly overlapping his mother's conditions with his cries of happiness. He danced around both Scamper and Pyras while humming some little ditty before Pyras stopped him with a gentle push to the head.

"Woah there little buddy, before you become a dungeon explorer, you're going to need this first."

Pyras reached into the bag that was always slung around his shoulder and pulled out a bronze medal with two pink ribbons.

"This is your explorer badge, basically it allows you to leave a dungeon whenever you complete a mission by sending a silent signal to either one of our badges. It also recognizes you as an explorer and displays your rank. Right now, you're an apprentice."

Little Sprout grinned as the charizard pressed the badge against the sprout on his head, the removable adhesive keeping it in place. After a moment of pride, Little Sprout's face slowly turned into a frown.

"Wait, don't I get a bag?"

Pyras shook his head, "'Fraid not kiddo, you're an apprentice which means your team leader's the only one who can hold the bag."

Little Sprout tilted his head in confusion, "My team leader?"

He looked around the room and noticed the room full of pokemon for the first time. Some of the pokemon waved at him such as Snorlax, while a few others, namely Team Velvet, ignored his presence. Little Sprout visibly shrunk back, once again appearing meek and afraid. He seemed to dread meeting the team leader, perhaps afraid that it'd be the enormous Snorlax or the ghoulish Mismagius. When Spike finally scampered forward however, he didn't show any sign of relief.

"I'm the Team Go-Getters's leader, Spike!" He announced boldy, sitting on his front legs to look taller than he actually was. He dropped on all fours to walk around the Turtwig, giving a sniff here and there before walking back in front of him. This time, Little Sprout noticed he had an impish smile on his face.

"And as the team leader, I'm qualified to give you a nickname!"

* * *

The meeting was nearly over and Pyras was still chuckling, as were a few of the pokemon in the assembly while Little Sprout had his head bowed forward in shame. Every once and a while, Scamper had to shoot them all a look when they got too loud, his face showing displeasure at their immaturity, it wasn't even funny. When it was time for the meeting to end, Little Sprout and Terra were asked to stay behind. Pyras put a claw under the Turtwig's chin and lifted his face to meet his eyes.

"Relax Sprout, King Doodoohead of Doofusville won't fit on your Explorer's Certificate anyway. Spike will give you a...Well...I wouldn't say good, but a not too embarrassing nickname later."

Little Sprout seemed to perk up though Pyras still had a wide grin on face. Scamper rolled his eyes and turned to Terra.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't find a team to place you in Miss Terra, but after Little Sprout, we're pretty full. And once again, I must apologize about the circumstances. It wasn't a recruiting mission, we never meant to bring you here."

Terra nodded, "I understand, I'm a little too old to be going out on adventures anyway, I'd rather stay and keep an eye on Little Sproud, but I still don't understand why you brought us here in the first place."

Scamper turned and raised an eyebrow at Pyras before the dragon started speaking, "Uh, yeah...It's complicated."

The land tortoise blinked and stared at him, "I just don't understand it, one minute you're flying off with my child, then I see you talking to someone, then nothing. I must have blacked out because when I woke up, we were here."

The other eyebrow on the penguin's face rose to join the other, surprise of the new information clearly noted.

"He was talking to someone? Who were you talking to Pyras?"

Pyras looked around wildly as if someone would jump in at any moment and save him from the situation.

"Uh...I was talking to...Little Sprout! Yeah that's it!"

Little Sprout stared at Pyras and shook his head slowly, "No you weren't."

Pyras swallowed, expecting the turtle to continue as he realized Little Sprout was awake and aware when he was talking to Void, however, the pokemon had nothing more to say and turned his head away. Pyras quickly used the silence to his advantage and thumped his tail, the ribbon tied around it started to glow and made a thin red line in the ground, swiftly disappearing down one of the tunnels.

"Well, tomorrow's a big day for you Little Sprout, I think it's time for us all to get some rest! Just follow the red trail to your quarters."

The two older pokemon stared at him for a minute before Terra gave a simple nod, nudged her child and wandered off down the tunnel with him. However, Scamper stayed behind for a moment, saying nothing at all but stared at Pyras with his cold, hard eyes. After a couple of seconds, Scamper slowly shook his head, as a wary parent does when dealing with an unruly child.

"You do realize you can hide nothing from me Pyras. We will discuss this later."

He turned and waddled off to one of the larger tunnels towards the Ice Floes, his steps echoing down the lone channel before they disappeared. Pyras gave a sigh of relief, turning to head to the volcanic cavern where Spike also resided before he caught something in his periphial vision. He turned around swiftly, his claws raised. But when he saw what it was he slowly lowered the weapons. A shadow in the far part of the area detached itself from the darkness. It came closer and closer until it was right in front of Pyras. It then raised itself up, joining the three-dimensional world. Void stared him deep in the eyes and spoke.

_"You are a terrible liar." _

And behind the soft, empty eyes, Pyras sensed amusement. He gave an embarrassed rub on the back of his neck, letting out a low groan.

_"__What I don't understand is how they got here, I didn't recruit them."_

Void stared at him for a moment, looking a little embarrassed himself before he spoke again.

'_Do you remember how I was regaining energy while they were sleeping?"_

_"Yeah, what about it?"_

_"I assume that while I was 'feeding', they were physically connected to me. So to simply put it, I brought them with me by accident."_

_"Well...Nevermind that, with all that said and done, you're safe for today."_

Though Void didn't have a mouth, Pyras could sense a subtle sense of amusement from the Darkrai._  
_

_"If my safety relies on your secrecy, I fear I am in grave danger."

* * *

_

Darkness, nothing but swirling lone darkness. Oh when will the darkness end? There was nothing, nothing at all, not even a ground for him to walk on, at least none that he could see. And as soon as this thought flashed across his head, he was falling. Spinning and spiralling through the air and he tried to flap his stubby legs as if they'd turn into wings.

"Mama!" He cried to no avail, closing his eyes hard, desperately trying to make it all go away. When he opened them again, there were colors, though the way the colors were behaving, he wished the darkness would return. Red and orange flashed around him, twisting and dancing like flames. They appeared to be enveloping something, something larger than he and he strained his eyes to see it.

It was his mother.

"Mama!"

He strained his four legs, swinging them wildly as if trying to swim through the air, and for once, the air cooperated. He was propelled forward, holding back a scream as he swam through the painful flames. But when he finally reached his mama, he feared it was too late. Her legs were sprawled out and she wasn't moving.

"Mama?"

He walked towards the still form, going for her head and saw her body was black and charred. He gently nudged the fallen head of his mother, her beaked head slumped to the side. As he did, her skin fell away, revealing a shining white skull that grinned at him until finally, he was awakened by his own scream.

* * *

For the second time that night, the Assembly Cavern was filled with the guild's pokemon, save Team Legend. This time however, they were all frightened and tired as they recalled their nightmares to each other. Even Barrel was in attendance, awake for the first time in two days.

"I had a dream that I was dunked over and over again in water by a _human_!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Please Spike, you know humans are a myth. My dream was much worse!"

"Uh...I ran out of food."

They all silenced as Scamper waddled quietly in the room. As he stood in front of the room, his stern, angry face seemed to recall something horrible as he said a simple sentence that stirred fear in their hearts.

"I fear that Darkrai is once again among us."


End file.
